Brewer condemns State Dept. report

Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer is calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove a reference to her state’s immigration law from a report on human rights.

In a required report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the State Department said the federal government's challenge to the Arizona law that requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or detain was an example of how the United States is protecting human rights.

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"A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world," the report read. "The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined."

A federal judge blocked much of the law from being implemented after a legal challenge from the Justice Department. Brewer has appealed the decision.

The government’s challenge to the Arizona law was listed in the 30-page report as one of about a 100 steps the it has taken to uphold human and civil rights in the U.S.

Though the report did not mention some of the more contentious parts of the Arizona law, Brewer sent a letter to Clinton on Friday, calling the State Department report “downright offensive” for contending that blocking the law was a protection of human rights.

“The idea of our own American government submitting the duly enacted laws of a state of the United States to ‘review’ by the United Nations is internationalism run amok and unconstitutional,” Brewer wrote. “Human rights as guaranteed by the United States and Arizona Constitutions are expressly protected in S.B. 1070 and defended vigorously by my administration.”

“If the federal government secured the entire border and enforced our immigration laws, these human rights problems would not be occurring for citizens, legal residents and illegal immigrants,” she added.